Mhairi Black MP speaks to The Scotsman - September 20 2023
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:07 My name is Mary Black. I am the MP for Paisley and Memphis South, the deputy leader of the SNP Westminster group.
00:14 I think it's fair to say that the SNP have had pretty much a public bruising over the last few months.
00:21 But ultimately I've been pleasantly surprised by the number of people that are still with us, still positive about it
00:28 and still recognise that the SNP are the only ones that are offering a really different path for Scotland
00:33 and a radically different path which I think people are needing just now.
00:38 People are tired of politics in the sense that this has been a very turbulent period in British politics.
00:43 A lot has happened in a relatively short span of time.
00:47 But equally I think folk understand though why politics matters and it's all the struggles that they are experiencing just now.
00:54 They originate with politics, they originate with policies that governments make, particularly governments in Westminster.
01:01 So where I think there is a natural element of folk feeling scunnered, I think they get that it matters, it affects their life.
01:09 The feedback I'm getting from now on every door, whether they're a supporter or not, is the Cost 11 crisis.
01:15 That's where I think it's very important that in this by-election and the upcoming election
01:20 we make sure that we have representatives who understand the Cost 11 crisis and are willing to challenge it,
01:25 whether that be through Tory policies or Labour's cheap imitation of Tory policies.
01:30 I think it's really important that we have someone like Katie Loudon down there to argue the case for all these constituents
01:36 because too many people are struggling just now and that's palpable on the doorsteps.
01:41 Well again, this is ultimately why I believe in independence because I think that the levers that any government needs to radically change things
01:49 lie with Westminster. Whether that be windfall taxes, whether that be welfare, whether that be fairer policies based on the economy,
02:01 all of this happens down in Westminster, which is why it's so important that we get governments we vote for,
02:06 we get representatives that will actually stand up for us and challenge what has been the status quo for too long.
02:12 Absolutely, behind safe consumption rooms, I think they are long, long overdue. Not only are they long overdue because addiction is a health issue
02:21 more than anything else, definitely more than it is a criminal issue, and these safe consumption rooms actually provide a safe space for people
02:29 to admit that they have a problem and to take the first step to seeking help as to how they can get themselves out of that rut.
02:36 So absolutely, I think they're long overdue.
02:39 I think addiction, much like many illnesses that you can't physically see, it doesn't make them any less real and it's only once we start
02:48 approaching these issues with the correct compassion and understanding that most health professionals offer that we start seeing folk
02:57 actually being able to change their lives and take a better path. But it's absolutely a health issue, absolutely.
03:03 [Music]